OC 300 to 350

Last week I decided that I would check if I could find the money to upgrade my nap 300 Dr to 350. Seeing that prices seem to change at least in the Uk This is probably a good move. Again I am buying blindly after reading all the fantastic experience people have with the 350s in different systems. As I remember it we do not have a thread on 300 to 350, so While I am wating for the 350s to arrive on thirsday, why not start this thread!
Claus

We have 300DR and at demo found the 350s to be in a completely different league.

Anyone, buy without hesitation if you have funds.

The grip they have over speakers is amazing.

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My idea was of course to post in this thread as soon as the 350s arrived in my setup. This did not work out like that. Mostly because my first thoughts wer bbthis does not sound better than the 300! Yes I could hear the extended base, and more 3d, but at first it was like the rest of the sound crawled back into the speakers, and the naim prat was more or less gone.
Fortunately I have read all the do not listen until a few years after setting up any new Naim gear, so I played the system the first 2 days and set the 350s to be on at all times. But it did at least take one week even more until the Naim sound was back again. After this I could start listening for all the good changes. more bass on tracks where it is needed, better grip on everything, more space and 3d in the sound stage, and more details that you maybe could hear before if you concentrated about one particular sound or instrument, but with the 350s you can just hear all these things. Also the trebble is much better than before, better in every way. My Audiovectors uses an AMT tweeter and maybe you need a very good treble system to notice this, but on mmany tracks if I should point out the surprising sq lift compared to the 300 it is actually in the treble details.

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I wouldn’t go that far :joy:

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Hi Claus
So happy you started this Thread. I am in a very similar situation having just purchased a pair of 350s on the blind and trading in my 300DR. if you look at the bottom of this thread and go to 242 you will see my comments which align very close to yours.
803 D4 Nap300DR - upgrade to amp or add subs?
I was very happy to read the Naim Sound did come back.I have mine only a couple of weeks so you are a little further on the curve than me.
I shall watch with interest and post along the way.

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Nice to know I am not the only one. However this is the first time missing burn in has been that bad. When I changed from 252 to 332 it was there but it only ttook about half an hour or so until much of it was gone, and you could hear both the Naim sound and the improvements/changes over the 252. Reading online there seems to be an idea about the new classic not having kept the Naim sound, and if you hear the amps straite out of the box I may even agree, even though it is wrong ein the long run.
Claus

Well I shall keep listening and wait for the improvement. I do however hope I don’t regret not pairing my 552 with the 500. I note you have the 332 so you have new with New.
Where may I ask did you read about the old and the new sound.

Steve

I bring you my experience. I was the owner of 252/300. I first changed the 252 to 332/npx 300. I used the 300 dr with the 332 for a while. Everything was fine, but it wasn’t the same as the 252/300. the 300 with the 332 seemed less hot. I recently exchanged the 300 for the 350, so now my configuration is 332/npx300m 350x2 and nd55 as the source. I can only say that on my speakers, (focal sopra2), I could hear a big difference right from the start. initially the sound was a little cold, but after a few days I found the nice warm sound of Naim, but with everything extra. Especially at high volume the sound is much more defined than with 252/300. It makes you want to turn up the volume. For me it’s an absolutely must-do update if you can.

The old and new sound has been discussed in several threads here, but especially on facebook some users think they can state things very categgorically most likely those who do that have no idea what they are talking about, the more sure they are on facebook the less people usually know about the topic. this however can quickly be formed into the whole truth about the new sound.

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Thanks to both for an interesting thread.

But…

Given the cost, should we be comparing second-hand 500DR with the new 350s?

Both yes, and no.
No because it is unfair as we are comparing new with second hand to keep within similar cost.

Yes, because a used 500dr is similar cost to upgrade vs the new 350’s. It is the comparison I am interested in.

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The OP is considering the change from 300 to 350 but why not throw in the possibility of the 500? It is another way of spending a similar mount of money but perhaps difficult to do a comparison depending on dealer stock.

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